I Kept Quiet for far too long. This. Is. WAR!!!

[Andy Grady]

I remember when I was a kid just out of high school about 12 years ago. I found this forum and saw that it was a wonderful place to share ideas about the game, building robots, teams and the methods they used to get through the season. It was an excellent place for a kid to really connect with other people and enjoy science and technology on a whole new level.

Today I look on this forum and I see alot of crap about behind the scenes politics and about how people are angry and miserable about this program. All things that were always very hidden to the eye of a student in my day. Back then, a student like me who was surfing this board enjoyed a sense of the magic that was a FIRST competition. Today a student surfing this board is saturated by the negative backdoor junk that they shouldn't even be subjected to.

Years ago I couldn't imagine FIRST without this board.

Today, I wonder if I should even promote this board to my kids at all.

Its a darn shame.

Maybe its time we should all get back to the basics...the joy of building something amazing with the people you care about.

[Mr. Pockets]

Originally Posted by Andy Grady

Today I look on this forum and I see alot of crap about behind the scenes politics and about how people are angry and miserable about this program. All things that were always very hidden to the eye of a student in my day. Back then, a student like me who was surfing this board enjoyed a sense of the magic that was a FIRST competition. Today a student surfing this board is saturated by the negative backdoor junk that they shouldn't even be subjected to.

Years ago I couldn't imagine FIRST without this board.

Today, I wonder if I should even promote this board to my kids at all.

I haven't been around long enough to know what CD was like back in the day. I do think however that to say that CD is saturated with negative moaning and groaning is simply not true. I'm still coming up on the first anniversary of having joined this board. The wonder of such an amazing group of people coming together to discuss our organization still exists. This is still the best place to come for information on robotics, still the best way too meet fellow FIRSTers from around the country, and arguably one of the best places to get some good laughs. I have never once regretted visiting this forum (except when I realize that I'm falling asleep in front of the computer, using my unfinished homework piles for pillows =).

But in all seriousness, there are still far more positive things to be found on these boards than negative ones. I recommend this site to all of my robotics friends, not because there are some somber discussions (those can be found anywhere), but because of all the wonderful things that this place has to offer. At least this year, that has not changed.

[Josh Murphy]

Ok, I have read through this thread a couple times now and pondered on how and whether or not to respond, and I have chosen to add my opinion on the matter, and I'm still not sure if this is how I wanted it to come out but here it is.

Dan, I know how you feel, and I understand the method to your madness. Politics often play a role in many things, and people may not like the outcome, but sometimes you have to just deal with it, as there isn’t going to be a change. That’s how the real world works. In the end you have to ask yourself why do I volunteer? Why do I sacrifice my time? and I’m pretty sure you’ve done this. I’m pretty sure you continue to volunteer not only because you enjoy it, but because you want to inspire in any way you can, and you want to help make sure everything runs smoothly for the teams a the event. I’m pretty sure that there are many things you’d like to volunteer for, but volunteering in itself should be helping out wherever needed. It is also just that, volunteering, you don’t have to do it if you feel like you‘re being singled out for only specific jobs. I know FIRST is a volunteer driven organization and they need every one they can get to make sure events run as smooth as possible. I also wonder sometimes why(and I’m not calling out FiM for the record) the state of Michigan alone has four(well three now!) Woodie Flowers Award winners and not one of them is on the board of directors for FiM. I don’t know the logistics of the whole thing and if they were asked or not, but I do know of at least one that has expressed interest in helping out. I don't want to get involved in that. In the end you just have to ask yourself if it’s all worth it as I have done with the choice to continue mentoring, and that is the I in FIRST, inspiration. If all you want to do is inspire, then be the bigger person and just volunteer where they need you, and inspire all of us no matter how we are treated by FIRST or the event staff or whoever, to continue their support for the FIRST program and everything it stands for.
As for the FIRST is changing people, it is but it isn’t. You are now seeing it from a different standpoint. I am a few years removed from being a student, and when I made the choice to mentor, I had to take a step back, rethink how things were, and readjust, because you realize that the way you’re used to seeing things done are not necessarily the way you viewed them as a student. I do support students becoming mentors because they can bring back their experience and pass it on. I also feel and this is just my opinion, that students who become mentors will have a leg up on the mentors that were not students, once they grow into a mature mentor.

P.S. Dan I know this probably isn’t what you want to hear, but just keep doing what you do because volunteering is better than just giving up and not doing it at all, and in the end you’ll feel better because you helped INSPIRE people to never give up. GOOD LUCK!!!! Dan

[Rion Atkinson]

Originally Posted by Andy Grady

I remember when I was a kid just out of high school about 12 years ago. I found this forum and saw that it was a wonderful place to share ideas about the game, building robots, teams and the methods they used to get through the season. It was an excellent place for a kid to really connect with other people and enjoy science and technology on a whole new level.

Today I look on this forum and I see a lot of crap about behind the scenes politics and about how people are angry and miserable about this program. All things that were always very hidden to the eye of a student in my day. Back then, a student like me who was surfing this board enjoyed a sense of the magic that was a FIRST competition. Today a student surfing this board is saturated by the negative backdoor junk that they shouldn't even be subjected to.

Years ago I couldn't imagine FIRST without this board.

Today, I wonder if I should even promote this board to my kids at all.

Its a darn shame.

Maybe its time we should all get back to the basics...the joy of building something amazing with the people you care about.

I would like to begin by starting with my story of starting.

Then -
This year my team captain showed me the website. I absolutely loved it. Seeing as how FIRST is what REALLY got me into engineering, this was the greatest thing ever. I never saw public debates. Just people helping each other out.

Now - Though I have only been on Chief Delphi for 11 months, I have begun to see it differently. I still think it is wonderful. I still consider it the best site on the internet. (Second to MyLifeIsAverage of course. ) But I now see it in a different light. For it is not the site that has changed, but my view point.

What I am saying is this - Back when you start on this website, everything is new and magical. As you go on you begin to be able to pick out the minor problems. As time passes you begin to see the minor problems as big problems. (I'm not saying your wrong. I'm just saying this is what happens to me. )

Of course this website has changed. But this is due to the generation. This is the change caused by those who post here. If it is for the worse. I shall save that discussion for another time.

On the note of not showing this site to students. Why not? Why shelter them now? Where ever they end up going they will see it. Why not expose them in a controlled environment. In my personal opinion I would rather learn how to deal with it with a net to catch me if I fail then the shark infested pool we call the real world.